Bummer. Maybe I've procrastinated too much on the work I have to do on my classes to write on my blog with peace of mind.

It struck me earlier today that it's probably strange to the American readers that I'm preparing to start my semester in March. It's funny how you get so caught up in your own life that you forget not everyone is on the same page. Korean universities start in March. Super weird-when I think of it from an American point of view.

I feel kind of overwhelmed about how to convey what God did in me, my team and the Uzbek students on our trip to Uzbekistan. Especially, since now I'm super busy with meetings and prep for my classes that start Tuesday. So I have decided that I'm going to unload just little snippets about the trip here and there for the next week or so. Here's my weird blogger confession: I find it hard to write freely unless I speak from what I'm experiencing at that moment. If I try to dig up back-loaded revelations or ideas it's more difficult to write and I end up staring at a blank screen.

Snippet number 1:
Today I was thinking about Jess. The most amazing thing about Jess is her persistence. The woman does not give up. Trust me-she'll drive you nuts about something until it's done :-) but in the end you end up respecting her a lot. Many people have great ideas but they don't always see them through to the very end. That's what Jess does. She's had a great impact on our department in a short time because frankly she's a maniac with a cause. So I was reflecting on this after we finished discussing the website for our department. (that her and I dreamed up, sweated over and now it's almost done...thanx mostly to her) It reminded me of before went to Uzbekistan.

My dreams about Uzbekistan seemed like an eluding fog, a crazy dream that no one had a passion for but me. I felt it in my heart that a team should go again in the winter but it didn't seem like anyone was interested and where would I get the money anyway? I was and am saving for grad school. It's interesting to look at those feelings from the other side of the trip. I reminds me of a big lesson I learned through that: Don't give up. I really learned about stepping out in faith through organizing that trip. So many times I just wanted to give up and say well, it probably wasn't God's will anyway. But God kept telling me "do what you can and I'll do the rest". So I called people. People were interested. But I thought they'd flake out, so I canceled a meeting and they showed up anyway. (that was God's little joke on me to show me what a lame-o-lacking-in-faith chick I am.) God said to me after that, "see, Joyce, just do what you can and believe". After that I just did everything I could and gave the rest to God. So I went to churches even though in my heart I thought we wouldn't get that much support emotionally and financially. I was wrong. I learned to do just everything I could then give it to God. And even more importantly I learned to never give up on what God had put in my heart.

We sent out support letters, but there was no response for weeks then in the last month the money started to come in through church visits. It was just one step at a time and God kept telling me just do what I can and then believe. It was amazing. We didn't have our plane tickets, our visas or enough money until 2 days before we were supposed to leave because of various complications that we had no control over. I remember that faithful Monday that we were busy packing and copying material by faith, even though we weren't sure we could even leave but then everything fell into place. We got the tickets (meaning they were available now we just had to have the money to buy them) and the visas. Then after that Anna came to me and said we were about 100,000 won short of being able to buy the tickets and I just knew by that point it was just going to be there (in our team bank account). I told her it'll be there but if it's not call me. When she checked the account the exact amount we needed to buy our plane tickets was in our team account!! I'm serious!! The exact amount-not too much, not too little but exactly what we needed. Wow.

"Don't be afraid, just believe..." Mark 5:36

Here I am back in Korea. I just got here an hour ago and now I'm using the lovely free internet access in the airport. I also have finally removed that ugly shout out message and replaced it with a functional commenting system. Well, there is a lot to be said and I'm glad to be back. However, right now I feel like a big gross homeless person cuz my clothes are kind of dirty and I haven't taken a shower. I need to go buy a ticket to Pohang. So I'll give you the full report on Uzbekistan later.

Well, here I am again. There's a computer center on the campus ran by a Korean NGO worker here. We've come to the school early the last couple days because of different projects lately. So I have a chance to write. However, I don't really feel comfortable writing a lot because the connection here is expensive (even though it's free for me). There is so much to say which I hope to share when I come back. One thing I have missed is writing on my blog. It's just a great release. A way to make sense of things. I read quickly most of my friends' blogs yesterday and I almost got tears in my eyes because of the beauty of being able to connect no matter where we are. I love you guys!

Hi everyone from Uzbekistan!! I can't write long but I just wanted to say hi. Thanks for all your prayers. God has continued to take care of us and open doors. I was sick the second night we had our English camp. I threw up 2 times during the night. I'm totally better now though. However, it does make me feel like I'm just starting the camp even though this is our fourth day. (I had to skip teaching the second day of camp) It has been great to see all my students from last summer. Please continue to pray for us here. Later!!!!!